Hague: Israel losing its support in UK & EU over settlement construction

UK’s Foreign Secretary in interview with Sky News says window for 2-state solution closing fast, adding failure to progress may jeopardize Israel’s Jewish, democratic character.

By Ynet

As the minister charged with negotiations with the Palestinians, Livni said that the next few weeks will be critical for negotiations. “I hope the Palestinians realize that the goal is to restart talks and be focused,” she added. British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is currently visiting Israel, said in an interview with Sky News that Israel has lost some support in Britain and in other European countries due to its settlement construction policy. Continue Reading »

White House appoints Gen. John Allen the U.S. security envoy for peace talks

Former NATO forces commander in Afghanistan has been appointed to formulate U.S. security policy in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

 

Gen. John Allen has been appointed special U.S. envoy on security issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He will not mediate between the parties; his work will almost exclusively involve contacts with Israel. Allen will deal with the U.S. position on Israeli security needs and the security arrangements that would accompany the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

Gen. John Allen, in a July 2012 photo.

Gen. John Allen – Photo: Reuters

 

Senior U.S. and Israeli officials note that while U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the appointment it was coordinated with U.S. Continue Reading »

Kerry Suggests Yet Another Freeze for Negotiations to Begin

U.S. Sec. of St. suggests Israel freeze construction if Israel seriously wants peace talks with the PA.

By Maayana Miskin

 

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly proposed that Israel freeze construction east of the 1949 armistice line if it wants to hold talks with the Palestinian Authority.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State, John Kerry - Photo by Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State, John Kerry – Photo by Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO

 

Kerry met Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

It was not clear if Netanyahu responded favorably to Kerry’s suggestion of a new construction freeze. Israel formerly froze construction for several months in an attempt to bring the PA back to the negotiating table. Continue Reading »

2nd French Court Ruling Affirms Legality of Israeli Rule Over Territories

After a 6 year battle the Versailles Court of Appeal ruled that contrary to Palestinian claims of occupation, the territories claimed by Israel are in fact legal.

Posted by: Jean-Patrick Grumberg

 

Virtually all international media has ignored recent news from France, where a court issued a ruling related, among other things, to the legality of Israel’s occupation. As noted in a March 13, 2013 article published by the French media outlet Dreuz, the Versailles Court of Appeal ruled that the Israeli occupation of the territories claimed by the Palestinians is in fact legal.

Taken from a Dreuz publication via Google translation:

The Jerusalem Light Rail – Photo IsraelandStuffPP

The Jerusalem ‘Light Rail’ – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

[The contractor] Veolia and Alstom built, following a call for tenders, the Jerusalem tramway through the city to the east, into the territories claimed by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »

Birthright Receives Another $40 million donation from the Adelsons

“Sheldon and I are committed to improving the world through cultural exchange and educational opportunity,” said Miriam Adelson.

 

NEW YORK – Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, donated another $40 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation.

Their latest gift brings the couple’s overall donations to the program to $180 million.

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson - Photo Getty Images

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson – Photo: Getty Images

“Sheldon and I are committed to improving the world through cultural exchange and educational opportunity,” said Miriam Adelson in a statement released Wednesday by Birthright Israel, which offers Jews aged 18 to 26 a free 10-day trip to Israel.

Continue Reading »

PA maintains preconditions to end settlement construction, release prisoners.

Large protest rally outside PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office in Ramallah to demonstrate Washington’s perceived ‘Israel bias.’

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Ramallah Thursday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed with him ways of resuming the peace talks with Israel.

Palestinian protester holds a poster with a caricature of John Kerry in Ramallah May 23, 2013.

Palestinian protester holds a poster with a caricature of John Kerry in Ramallah May 23, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday reiterated his demand for a full cessation of settlement construction and the release of Palestinian prisoners before returning to the negotiating table with Israel. Continue Reading »

Haredi soldier: Haredi incitement endangers my life

Haredi soldier files complaint against ultra-Orthodox newspaper, claiming that the daily’s editorial put his life in danger.

 

The paper denies inciting to violence, but suggests that the ‘collaborators’ who wear IDF uniform inside haredi neighborhoods, de facto ‘legitimize’ idea of draft.

Yoav Zitun

 

A haredi youth serving in the IDF filed a complain with the police Thursday against the ultra-Orthodox daily HaPeles, claiming that the paper’s fiery editorial condemning haredi “collaborators” with the establishment had put his life in jeopardy.

Haredi soldier in the IDF Photo Marc Israel SellemThe Jerusalem Post

Haredi soldier in the IDF Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

The complaint came the same day as a report proposing far-reaching reforms to the process of enlistment of haredim into the IDF was submitted to the Knesset. Continue Reading »

Advanced Biological Computer Developed by Scientists

The main advantages of biomolecular computing devices over the electronic computers are that these systems can interact directly with biological systems and even with living organisms.

By Arutz Sheva

 

Technion scientists developed and constructed a molecular transducer, which is an advanced computing machine. This molecular computer was built entirely of biomolecules, such as DNA and enzymes that can manipulate genetic codes. This unprecedented device can compute iteratively, namely, it uses the output as a new input for subsequent computations. Furthermore, it produces outputs in the form of biologically meaningful phenomena, such as resistance of bacteria to various antibiotics. The researchers demonstrated that their transducer can perform a long division of binary numbers by 3 and preformed an iterative computation. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Knesset argues over peace process, as Kerry returns to Jerusalem

John Kerry returns to Jerusalem pushing new American initiative, but there’s deep divides in Israel’s new gov’t over how to handle peace process with Palestinians. 

By Ryan Jones

 

 

Israel’s government this week heatedly debated how and if to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, as US Secretary of State John Kerry returned to the region to continue pushing the two sides back to the table.

U.S. Secretary of State John KerryMeeting with Kerry in Jerusalem on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “wants to restart the peace talks with the Palestinians. …I hope the Palestinians want [this] as well…we ought to be successful for a simple reason: When there’s a will, we’ll find a way.” Continue Reading »

In the Theater of the Absurd: Syria charges Israel for health violations at UN

 

At an official UN’s World Health Organization conference, Syria accuses Israel of conducting medical experiments on Syrian prisoners, burying nuclear waste on Golan Heights, placing “nuclear land mines” on cease-fire line and some more craziness.  

Israel: It’s absurd how the U.N. is being cynically abused.

By Amir Mizroch

 

In an act of macabre political theater, Syria presented a report to the U.N.’s World Health Organization on Monday slamming what it says is the “deterioration of the health conditions of the Syrian population in the occupied Golan as a result of the suppressive practices of the Israeli occupation.”

Continue Reading »

UK security unit reports London Jihadist attack signifies no special risk for Jews

Israeli President Shimon Peres sent a letter of condolence to the family of the dead soldier and to the people of Britain he wrote, “Terrorism is a global threat and one the world must face together,….I know that the people of Britain will stand strong in the face of this threat and the State of Israel stands side by side with them.”

By JTA

 

British Jews are not more at risk from terrorism than they were before the slaying of a British soldier by suspected terrorists, British Jewry’s security unit, CST, said.

The soldier brutally hacked to death in Woolwich yesterday has been named by the Ministry of Defense as Drummer Lee Rigby, 25.

Continue Reading »

Senate vote unanimously passed calls US to back Israel in case of Iranian strike

Senate Vote passes 99-0 on resolution favoring US support to Israel if it were forced to defend itself from an Iranian nuclear threat.

By REUTERS

 

 

WASHINGTON – The Democratic-led Senate voted 99-0 – with one senator not present – on Wednesday night, on a resolution that the United States should support Israel if it were forced to defend itself from an Iranian nuclear threat. The measure also urged Obama to strengthen enforcement of existing sanctions on Iran.

US Senate

Earlier Wednesday, a US House of Representatives committee approved legislation seeking to impose tighter sanctions on Iran, the latest congressional effort to slow development of the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear program.

Continue Reading »

IDF’s Swearing-in ceremony for new haredi troops relocated for fear of riots

IDF heard ultra-Orthodox ‘zealots’ planned demonstration during ceremony, originally scheduled for Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, so the ceremony

 was moved to an army base. Soldiers: Disappointed but understand.

By Kobi Nachshoni

The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which consists of combat ultra-Orthodox soldiers, cancelled a swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Thursday for fear that extremist haredim from “zealous” groups would protest during the event against the recruitment of yeshiva students to the army and civil service, Ynet has learned.

(צילום: אהרון והב - סוכנות הידיעות "חדשות 24")

Haredi riots in Jerusalem – Photo: Aharon Rahav – News 24

The ceremony was set to take place at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

NYT: Israel conducts intelligence activity in Syria & works with local villagers

A New York Times report claims Israel has dropped the idea of a buffer zone in Syria as it would be seen as an invasion & spark confrontation with Assad’s forces, but is not eliminating use of a ‘proxy’ force in the country.

 

 

Israeli forces are “maintaining intense intelligence activity” in Syria and have “quietly” begun working with villagers there unallied to either the rebels or President Bashar Assad’s regime amid increasing fears that the Syrian civil war will spill over its borders, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

UN post in the Golan Heights.

A United Nations observation tower overlooking Syria is seen near the Kuneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria, on the Golan Heights May 8, 2013.

Continue Reading »

Syrian Gunfire into Israel Reflects IDF’s Defensive Abilities ‘Undiminished’

The IDF’s ability to deter any Syrian attack on the Golan Heights remains undiminished, says top defense brass.

By Arutz Sheva staff

 

 

Israel’s ability to deter attack on its positions in the Golan Heights remains undiminished despite an uptick in fire from the Syrian side of the ceasefire line, a defense official said on Wednesday.

Google Earth map

Golan Heights’ Israel-Syria border – Google Maps

 

“The good news is that the continued stability of the Golan Heights (and) the deterrent power of the Israeli army have not been weakened,” senior defense adviser Amos Gilad told army radio, adding that, “Daily life goes on as usual.” Continue Reading »